OEM Versus Aftermaket Parts

[artpeck]

A couple weeks into knowing what needs to be replaced and repaired and I am curious if people have experience they can share on oem versus aftermarket parts. I get wanting to stay original and use oem where available so am biased that way.
Mostly curious if there are significant differences in quality, durability and performance that experience has shown one way or the other.

Thanks.

Art

[NickDawson]

A couple weeks into knowing what needs to be replaced and repaired and I am curious if people have experience they can share on oem versus aftermarket parts. I get wanting to stay original and use oem where available so am biased that way.
Mostly curious if there are significant differences in quality, durability and performance that experience has shown one way or the other.

Thanks.

Art

You'll get a lot of varied opinions on this one. Our host's own ProLine is their rebranding of various after market parts. In almost every case that I've had a choice between proline and genuine, I've gone proline - usually at the suggestion of our hosts. Knock on wood, the only new part that I've had fail was a bad condenser that was known to be part of a bad run.

I read a lot of particularly bad things about BritPart (the old joke is S__tPart) - when I went to replace the front brake wheel cylinders I took care to avoid BritPart stuff.

You'll also find that there are some things that you simply cannot get genuine anymore or come at a significantly high cost. That's a call you'll have to make, and you may want to ask this group for advice on a part by part (or at least system-by-system) basis.

[leafsprung]

depends on the part. Some genuine are far better than aftermarket, some aftermarket are far better than genuine. Some used originals are far better than both!

[crankin]

You'll run into a brand called "Britpart" that makes a lot of Rover parts. I have found that their body panels are horrible copies of the original. For example their headlight body panel: where the metal breaks into a 90 degree angle on the original....Brit part breaks theirs at 45 degrees.

Britpart does have some comparable substitutes...but why chance it to save a few bucks.

[TedW]

depends on the part. Some genuine are far better than aftermarket, some aftermarket are far better than genuine. Some used originals are far better than both!

What he said.

Part quality can vary within aftermarket brands: for instance, I have had good luck with Bearmach parts, but others on this forum can point to examples where Bearmach has disappointed them.

IMO our hosts have done a very good job prescreening the aftermarket for parts to include in their ProLine. I have never been disappointed with a ProLine part.

[Jim-ME]

I agree with everything said. But my experience with any non genuine part that is made for brake systems especially shoes to be junk and it is best to fit genuine parts.
Jim

[gudjeon]

That's where a good vendor comes in. They have helped people sort out aftermarket good from bad and know what to sell.:thumb-up:

[TeriAnn]

What he said.

IMO our hosts have done a very good job prescreening the aftermarket for parts to include in their ProLine. I have never been disappointed with a ProLine part.

You do have to rely upon your vendor to "sort out the best parts for the money" for you. A small one or two person company that only gets aftermarket parts from a single source can't do it for you. But a larger company such as Rovers North and British Pacific have multiple sources for parts and know that repeat business depends on them getting you the best aftermarket part for the best price. Also since they stand behind what they sell, they loose money on returns. So they want the parts to be fit for use and to last.

You may pay less from a single person company working out of their garage or equivalent location because they have almost no overhead costs. But they are not able to do the parts quality research that the larger US retailers can do and they are often tied to a single parts source and are unable to choose the best aftermarket parts to offer you. Depending upon how the product dice falls that cheaper part from a single source retailer may not be so cheap after all and may leave you stranded on the trail.

Interestingly enough, it appears that both Rovers North and British Pacific are each relying increasingly more on Allmakes brand aftermarket parts (www.britishpacific.com/BPSite/LREqualitywriteupJan20081.pdf) for their aftermarket sales.

[BobJones]

I would agree that our hosts do a pretty good job of supplying quality aftermarket parts. I can't afford to go OEM all the way, and have had pretty good luck so for, ( not perfect luck ) but that can be expected. So far I've saved a lot of cash using Pro-Line

[amcordo]

I'm going to put in a plug for Rovers North here - they aren't paying me but they should be... though now that I think about it they probably make a happier margin on OEM...

I've been happy with the following proline:
Front door tops (FAR better than the OEM design)
Dual brake master - hasn't stopped working on me yet
Clutch master - clutch hasn't burst into flames yet